Chicken and Artichokes with White Wine Basil Sauce

Once again I was caught in the dilemma of NOT making it to the grocery store over the weekend. This happens pretty much every weekend, and then I’m always running to the store after work or having B pick things up on his way home. This doesn’t help the fact that we tend to actually sit down to dinner around 9:30 🙂 Last night was one of those nights. I looked in the freezer and saw two things…chicken and artichokes. I absolutely love the combination of the two and knew I could make a quick and easy meal by sauteing the two of them together with a few other key ingredients. Most importantly, wine. Anything sauteed in wine tastes amazing. Add in a little cheese, basil and garlic and you’ve got yourself a one pan meal! I searched for an actual recipe and happened to find one by Cooking Light. Perfect! I adapted my recipe with a few tweaks, additions and subtractions. Thank you to my wonderful sister in law Tiffany for shooting new photos for me for this post! If only I could hire her full time to take photos for my blog!

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

4 Tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup white wine ( I used a Picpoul de Pinet)

1 package of frozen artichokes, thawed. If you can’t find frozen, you can use canned.

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

Lemon Juice

White or brown rice, or pasta

Directions

In a bowl, toss the chicken pieces with the flour, salt and pepper until well coated, making sure the pieces are separated from each other.

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium/high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the pan, turning occasionally until lightly browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes.

Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Carefully add in the wine and artichokes and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened and chicken is done. If you find the sauce is too thick for your liking, simply add more wine.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheese and basil until combined, and add lemon juice to taste.

Serve over hot rice or pasta…and finish that bottle of wine 🙂

*My husband added hot sauce into this portion and loved it. If you want a little heat, try adding a splash of Franks or sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes.